


Jail Time

by Stormlyht



Series: This Town That Loves Me [31]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: M/M, Talking, This town loves Derek, stiles not so much
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-28
Updated: 2015-06-28
Packaged: 2018-04-06 13:20:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4223250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stormlyht/pseuds/Stormlyht
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sheriff Stilinski has to have a conversation with Clark, and a few other people as well.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Jail Time

**Author's Note:**

> I did research! Actually looked into assault charges in California and based on what I read this is an accurate chapter. I hate research, mostly because I suck at google searches and I would rather be writing. I felt like I had to have some feel for things though, as I am writing a police officer. For some reason I had a hard time getting into the Sheriff's head, so sorry if there isn't enough brain stuff happening.
> 
> Unbeta'd, read through once, so all mistakes mine. Enjoy!

Sheriff John Stilinski didn’t want to deal with the boy who beat up his son. He wanted to put him in jail for the next ten years, possibly a state prison so he wouldn’t have to see Clark ever again. Only, Derek had been right. Derek Hale, Stiles’ boyfriend, had been right. He had to do this right, he had to do it by the book, he had to be smart about things. Emotions were good, they helped him make the right decisions, but it was time to bottle all that up and tuck it away.

“You going to be okay?” Deputy Haigh asked and John nodded at him, slapping the folder in his hand before taking a deep breath.

“Yeah, I’m going to be okay. Just standard procedure. I can handle standard.” He hoped he could, but the desire to just… hurt someone right now, was a little overwhelming. “Thanks though.”

He opened the door and walked into the interrogation room. Clark looked up at him and then looked right back down at the table. John walked in slowly, closed the door behind him and sat down across from Clark. He placed the folder down in front of him and eyed the boy over.

Clark was twenty, going to college, making ends meet the best he could by working at the gas station. By all accounts he was a boy doing his best, with a temper issue that had almost gotten him fired a few times, but Todd had said they’d had words, and Clark had been good for the last two months. Whatever had tripped the switch in Clark’s head had happened suddenly. Or had been boiling under the surface for a long while. This was the first case where John didn’t want to know all the details, he just wanted to rush in with the verdict. He took a deep breath to steady not just his mind, but his heart as well.

“This is a bad state to be in Clark,” he started with. The boy nodded and he fiddled with the skin around a finger. “You’re in here because you had to be pulled off of someone else. Obviously you were so intent on doing damage that you didn’t even hear the sirens. I assume you didn’t notice, I suppose it’s possible you didn’t care.” His words were clipped and Clark winced. The boy swallowed and John saw him clench his hands together.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered. Shit. John couldn’t handle that. Remorse. Instant remorse and he could feel it from the boy. He had to stay clear headed, he couldn’t get angry because the boy was actually feeling torn up from his actions. John had to keep himself in control.

“This isn’t something you can just say you’re sorry for and get a slap on the wrist and walk home from.” John opened the file and pulled out the x-rays. “This is what Stiles’ arm looks like.” Clark looked over and saw the break. “This is what his *face* looks like.” The next picture was identifiable because John knew his son, but to an outsider all they’d see were bruises and swelling so bad that one eye couldn’t even be found. “*You* did that.” He stabbed a finger at the picture. “You did!”

“I’m sorry!” Clark said louder, eyes focused on the face picture now. “I didn’t mean -“

“What?” John asked as he tried so hard not to lose his temper. “You thought to just slap him around a little? You didn’t mean to break his arm and nearly give him a concussion. It was completely by accident that you slammed his face into the counter?”

“No! Yes!” Clark looked up at John with wild eyes. “I didn’t mean to beat him up like that, I just, I got so mad, and I couldn’t think anymore!”

“Not thinking is going to put you in jail!” John snapped. “You’re young, bright future, but maybe not anymore, because you beat the ever loving crap out of Stiles!” Not personal, he had to not make it personal.

“I’m so sorry!”

“What the hell prompted you to do that? I mean he’s an annoying little shit, even I can admit to that, but it wasn’t even like the two of you had gotten much of a chance to speak to one another, how had he pissed you off so quickly?” he asked with a slight shrug, distancing himself again.

“I’m just so sick of hearing about it!” Clark cried out. He looked around and then back to John. “Every day it’s the same shit, why aren’t you looking for someone like that? Even that Stiles kid can manage to snag himself someone good. Have you heard what Stiles did today? He went out on a date with Derek Hale. You remember the Hales, they practically built this town. Have you seen Derek? He turned out so well, look at his muscles, look at how he protects everyone, remember he used to mow the lawn, he taught you how to use the mower!” His hands were outstretched now, as far as the cuffs would let him and he moved to start pacing. “I’m so fucking sick of hearing about perfect fucking Derek Hale and how that stupid, manipulative Stiles managed to worm his way into Derek’s life. I mean, I remember Stiles from school, he was funny, I remember that! But now it’s all this nagging and nagging and I just lost it. I didn’t mean to hurt him, I didn’t even really remember leaving the counter, but I saw his ID and I realized who he was and something just snapped!” His back was to John and he had his hands on the wall. “God, I didn’t mean to do that.”

John waited, watching the boy as he agonized over what had happened. The thing was, it wasn’t something an “I’m sorry” could really make up for. This was tricky territory. Things stopped being easy and straightforward as soon as the town began to rise against his son.

Finally though, he had to speak. “So it’s because your mother keeps pestering you? Have you told her that you don’t want to hear it anymore?”

“You know it’s not just her. All the housewives are going on about how they wished their son could be dating him. They’re like the strangest, most bizarre neighborhood watch ever.” Clark let his head thump on the wall a few times. “I can’t afford to move out, and I think Mom set up the weekly meetings in her house because she knew I’d be around to hear them. I swear to God, I’ve never been encouraged to be gay before in my life.”

John snorted, the words soothing some of the anger that he had directed at Clark and moving that anger on to his mother. “I can’t even imagine.”

“I’m not… I’m not trying to get out of this, but do you know what it’s like to be nagged like that all the time?” He turned around and looked over at John, brows furrowed and eyes haunted.

“You should have been around when Stiles learned the word “Why”,” John snorted again. This was his town, and the longer things went on between the town and Derek and Stiles, the more John felt like he was failing to keep his town safe. “The thing is, you’re looking at aggravated assault charges here. That’s at least a year in jail.” He tapped a finger on the pictures again. “I can’t go into the past and fix your mother, and I can’t make your life with her better. What I can do is explain to her what the situation is right now, and see what she says. I suggest you get yourself a lawyer.”

John put all the pictures back into his folder and stood up. Clark turned to him and his eyes were hard for a moment. “You have no idea what it’s like,” he ground out.

“I don’t have to,” John said with a small shake of his head. There was nothing more he could do. “I have to obey and enforce the law.” He held that gaze for a moment and then went to the door.

“How long am I stuck in here?” Clark called out.

“Until I decide to let you out,” John said as he opened the door and went through it. Closing the door firmly behind himself again, he closed his eyes and looked over at Deputy Haigh. “Are they all in?” he asked.

“Everyone on your list,” Haigh said with a nod. “You gonna tell me what this is all about?”

“You can listen in if you want to.” John walked through the department and into the jail. The cells were filled with townsfolk and they all looked over at him when he came in.

“What the hell are we doing here?” someone called out and then everyone was talking at once. John let them talk for a while, looking them all over, seeing the anger and hurt from his son’s eyes, hand clenching on the folder holding the pictures of his beaten son. This was serious, and he was going to put an end to it. Somehow.

“Quiet!” he finally bellowed. Silence rang out as everyone looked over at him. He hadn’t been so focused on since his speech when he’d taken office. “We have come to a very sad place here in Beacon Hills,” he said.

No one said anything and he walked over to one of the cells and pulled out the picture of Stiles’ face. “This is my *son*,” he said as he moved the picture around, letting everyone see it. “Stiles is in the hospital right now while you all are in here.” He walked to the next cell and showed the picture to them. “You all elected me as Sheriff of this beautiful town. Now I’ve tried to be the best I can for you. I’ve worked endlessly solving every case that came across my desk, and sometimes I can’t answer the questions we all have, but I do everything in my power to protect you all, as you asked me to.” Now he moved to the last cell and showed the picture.

“What does this have to do with us?” he heard, and he turned his head to look at the woman in question.

“I’m getting to that.” He put the picture away and then pulled out the picture of the x-ray. “This is his broken arm.” He didn’t go from cell to cell, just held it out and showed it around. “Stiles got these injuries, and more, from someone today. Someone who was constantly being inundated about Stiles and Derek Hale’s relationship. The relationship that each and every one of you in these cells has had a comment on. Now, town gossip, not my jurisdiction.” He looked around and was pleased to see some of the people looking away from him. 

“But assault? Battery? That *is*. I’m telling you all, right here, right now. Stop.” He took a deep breath and walked into the center of the room. “Some of you have this misguided idea that their relationship is yours to destroy. It’s not. They are both perfectly capable of doing that themselves, thank you. You can talk, sure,” he shrugged. “You can even tell Derek what you think of his choices, but they are *his* choices to make. A stray comment here and there to Stiles, not going to bother me, but this,” he tapped the folder. “This is just the beginning of a much bigger deal, and I’m saying “no” right here. You asked me to keep you safe. I’m doing my best, but I’m also supposed to keep my son safe. All of you are putting him in danger. Some of you have hurt him.”

John paused. He was pleased to see that he had everyone’s attention. “The bruise on his arm from the incident at the gas station? I know about it. Messing up his order again and again on his first date? I know about it. I even know about the person who kept throwing blackberries at him in the grocery store, and the one who opened up three packs of jacks and tossed them on the ground under his cart. That caused him to fall, and he got a few bruises and some scratches from that. This has been steadily getting out of control. I did my best to try to settle things, show that their dating was up to them, that maybe they were good for each other, but I’m not going to ignore this. I’m going to stop hoping everyone will start acting like adults. If I have to, I’m going to make sure each person understands what “assault and battery” means. Have I made myself perfectly clear?”

For several moments there were no comments, no looks, just the soft shuffling of feet. If anyone felt they didn’t deserve to be here, they weren’t saying anything. Finally though, someone started nodding, and soon everyone was nodding. There were murmurs of “I understand” that floated all through the room. John was pleased, he was finally being heard.

“Thank you,” he said. “I have to go visit this idiot in the hospital now, since I can’t visit him at home. I hope that this understanding doesn’t disappear when I’m out of the room. Have a good day.” He turned and headed out of the room.

“Sir?” Haigh asked when he was in ear shot. “Do we let them out now?”

John looked back at them. “Yeah. But only once I’m out of the station. I don’t want to have to talk to any of them up close for a little while.”

“Understood sir.”


End file.
